Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 11 December 2024

These updates are shared to help raise the situational awareness of Faith-Based organizations to best defend against and mitigate the impacts from all-hazards threats including physical security, cybersecurity, and natural disasters.

Pastor tackles man who fired gun during Sunday services at Suffolk church

From the abc7 KVIA report:

A church leader in Suffolk says he tackled a man who fired a gun inside his church. That man is in now in custody following the incident at The Divine Church of Deliverance and Transformation Holiness Sunday afternoon, police said.

 “Everything was going lovely,” said Chief Apostle Brian E. Outlaw, Sr. D.D. of the Divine Church of Deliverance and Transformation Holiness. “Next thing I know the young man walked into the pulpit and had a gun out.” Outlaw jumped in.

“I went into active mode and grabbed the gun and wrestled the gun from him to make sure it wouldn’t go off in the congregation but it went off in the pulpit,” said Outlaw.

Related Articles:

• Same Incident: Armed man who entered Va. church charged with attempted murder
• Indiana Incident: Court docs: Man threatened to “kill everyone” at church Nativity event, tried to disarm officers

De-escalation Action Guide | CISA

From the CISA website:

Remaining vigilant and taking proactive measures to secure critical infrastructure and public gathering locations requires implementing various security measures to mitigate potential threats. To assist our partners and stakeholders, CISA developed the De-escalation Action Guide, a resource that combines the existing De-escalation Series of fact sheets into a single easily accessible product. The Action Guide provides an overview of the primary strategies that may be taken to de-escalate a potentially violent situation.

PDF: De-escalation Action Guide

The two-page De-escalation Action Guide details the following:

• RECOGNIZE
• ASSESS
• DE-ESCALATE
  • ACT WITH PURPOSE
  • COMMUNICATE WITH EMPATHY
  • MONITOR BODY LANGUAGE
• REPORT

The guide recommends that if violence appears imminent, immediately contact 9-1-1.

Analyst Comments:

Today’s environment can be very caustic. Much animosity can be aimed at communities of faith or individual members. De-escalating a tense situation can prevent a harmful situation.

As the incident at the Suffolk, VA church shows, de-escalation is not always possible, but in some cases, it may be the best choice. Faith leaders may prefer to de-escalate a situation, and the CISA De-escalation Action Guide can improve the odds of a good outcome.

It is important to report a person that requires de-escalation. If someone’s actions require de-escalation at your house of worship, their agitation may increase and they may become a bigger threat. They may return to your house of worship or be a threat at another house of worship.

As is stated in the guide, if violence appears imminent, immediately contact 9-1-1.

The original two-page fact sheets for each step can also be beneficial.

• Recognize: How You Can Notice the Warning Signs of Violence
• Assess: How to Navigate the Risk When Someone is Escalating
• De-Escalation: How You Can Help Defuse Potentially Violent Situations
• Report: How to Engage Your Organization and Community

The Employee Vigilance – Power of Hello | CISA website can also be helpful.

The Gate 15 Interview – CISA’s JCDC, plus! Love for Boston, love for potatoes, love for cats, and love for cyber

The Gate 15 Interview is a monthly interview between Gate 15’s Founder and Managing Director, Andy Jabbour and guests from throughout the homeland security risk management community addressing a wide range of all-hazards topics and issues.

In this episode, Andy Jabbour speaks with Jeri Rogish and Mitchell Freddura, both with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) about the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC). Jeri serves as Deputy Chief of JCDC’s Product Development Section and Mitch serves in the Partnerships Office.

Discussed in the podcast: 

• Jeri & Mitch’s Backgrounds. 
• JCDC background.
• How the JCDC is “uniting the global cyber community.” 
• Best practices to support a “coordinated defensive cyber posture.”
• “Implementing comprehensive, whole-of-nation cyber defense plans” to address risks, coordinate action, and build national resilience.
• Building a joint understanding of challenges and opportunities for our nation’s cyber defense.
• Networks of networks & private-public partnership  
• The NCIRP Public Comment period coming soon!
• We play Three Questions and talk moments from high school, favorite foods, big hearts and sports teams no one wants to hear about…

Information on other Gate 15 podcasts can be found at Podcasts (gate15.global).